When I heard this story on National Public Radio http://www.npr.org/2012/05/29/153898527/drawn-to-sweets-or-fats-blame-your-genes it really resonated with me, and undoubtedly many other people. I spent so many years excusing my bad eating habits by saying, well everyone else in my family is fat so I am not at fault for becoming fat myself. In fact, there are studies to show that if people are starved at critical points in their development, they will become fat later in life, or if the mother is starved it will effect her unborn fetus if it is lucky enough to emerge and develop into an adult. Epigenetics?
This particular story really got me thinking because they said that the statistical difference between those who became obese and those who did not (regardless of their genotype) was only 100 calories! This totally supports my personal belief that something as simple as one hour devoted to your fitness will make the difference between obesity and a healthy weight (or shall I admit that I am still overweight but at least not, at the moment, obese).
I blamed my genes when I started smoking and when I get "hooked" on eating empty calories that come with Hershey's chocolate or any of the Wonka candies (from Nestlé). Why do we get addicted anyway to any of this junk? Can we say that plants enslave us or is it some kind of biochemical programming that comes from our environment (nature or nurture)?
I stopped smoking cigarettes 4 weeks ago and tried to use a juice cleanse to help me replace one addiction with another. After I gave up on the juice cleanse I spent about a week eating complete junk, why? I tore through every bit of
Funyuns and Chex® Party Mix in the house, not to mention eating the Knorr Pasta Sides (microwavable in 8 minutes) and starting to drink coffee (which my massuse told me is a TOXIC SUBSTANCE) again several times a day.
What is the point of detoxing if we just retox when it's over? At least I am still not smoking! So this week I tried to keep in mind the exercise guidelines I set for myself, daily activity to burn at least 100 calories per day so that I won't do what my genes want me to do and succumb to the urge toward sweets or fats. Or at least if I do, then I can counteract it with a bit of extra calorie expenditures.
Besides detoxing, I tried the "mean green" juice cleanse to provide my body with micronutrients. These are essential minerals that most people get from taking multivitamins, or don't get at all. I thought I would feel healthier, but I got all kinds of pain in my back that went away when I stopped drinking the juice (or scaled it back considerably). The scientist inside me wanted to do a replicate, but the human being didn't want to be in pain again and I couldn't force my body to drink that juice again.
Instead, this week, I've been trying to get to Whole Foods rather than picking up the phone and having pizza or chinese food delivered. Preparing the food, doing housework, anything to prevent myself from stuffing my face. Keeping a plant-based diet has given me more energy and at a gathering of my colleages, everyone was asking what I've been doing to keep looking so good. Maybe they were lying but I told them it was due to walking and eating healthy.
I've heard nonsense about how one doctor survived eating only Twinkies (yet staying within the recommended number of calories per day). I've heard about people staying on juice fasts for 60 days. Discussing these options with my colleagues at a recent symposium, we came to the concensus that the body has evolved to digest food in an intact (and sometimes cooked) form. The cell walls of plant material provide a continuous-release of nutrients and minerals that cannot be simulated by a multivitamin.
Junk food (or highly processed foods) represent a quick fix, similar to smoking or taking other drugs or getting into an argument with a loved one, or cutting oneself. What we need to do is SLOW DOWN and enjoy life. Ingest whole foods, as lightly processed as possible (imagine that energy is scarce and you would have had to haul water 2 miles to make a pot of soup or gather wood for half a day to make the fire necessary to bake a loaf of bread). This is how we had evolved to eat and now that we have the choice, we must do what is right for our bodies -- not what is enjoyable RIGHT NOW.
In addition to micronutrients, we need macronutrients. These are larger assemblies of atoms (molecules) and chains of molecules (polysaccharides and proteins) that can be used by our bodies as a source of energy. Since we are not capable of harnessing the sun's energy (as plants are) we must consume these macronutrients. Egg whites are a source of the amino acids we need that we cannot make. I seemed to also be drawn to cheese and fish, although I cannot explain why. Another organism that is expert at making vitamins (B-vitamins, in particular) is the mushroom. Do not hesitate to include these as a part of your plant-based diet. Lest we forget, NUTS! These are the seeds of plants, and therefore contain all the nutrients required to start a new plant, which is convenient for us since all we need to do is sustain what we already have going (assuming we are adults and are not undergoing growth and development of our organs --> over age 25).